Is this an M.C. Escher drawing or a real place?  Oh, it is real. I visited the Mezquita or Grand Cathedral and former mosque of Cordoba a few years ago during a month-long visit to Spain.

Built in the year 600, this amazing forest of columns and marble  is often regarded as one of the most accomplished examples of Islamic architecture.

The Mezquita
Cordoba, Spain

Nowadays there are said to be approximately 400 million people speaking Spanish as a native language and a total of 500 million speakersworldwide. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese.   Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and there are more than 20 Spanish-speaking countries in the world.  Are you getting my point? Oye chicos y chicas! (Warning: Non PC/fun writing coming up) Spanish is the new black. Literally. For about a decade now, Latinos have been the largest minority group in the United States, surpassing African-Americans.

So learning Spanish is a no-brainer and literally can be with a download-able language-learning program I just tried out called Bueno, Entonces. If you’ve wanted to improve your Spanish or learn from scratch…now is really the time. Vamos!

To get a feel for the program, here is a clip for you (if you are reading this in email and the vid doesn’t come through, please go to my site to see full video clip):

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Spain has won the FIFA World Cup title for the very first time in their history. Their extra-time goal claimed a dramatic 1-0 victory over orange-clad Netherlands in Johannesburg.

Congratulations & felicitaciones  to all my friends in Spain who are most likely still celebrating and knowing them, will be for a long time. Not sure if the hombre pictured here is still celebrating, but this modern-day ‘man of La Mancha’ looks like he certainly did some partying of his own back in the day…perhaps he was a drinking buddy of Cervantes.

Modern-Day Don Quixote
Granada, Spain

This is it. We are just days from the decision on which city will host the 2016 Olympic Games. I know it seems a tad early to be talking about something seven years from now, but you know the host city has years of work ahead of it so the time is now.  After a two-year global campaign featuring four world-class cities, one of the closest bid races in Olympic history will be decided Friday in a vote of the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen.

The bidding process goes back to May 2007 when cities around the world dropped their hat in the ring for a chance to win the Olympic rings.  Four cities were chosen as the final candidates in June 2008: Tokyo, Rio De Janeiro, Madrid, and Chicago. I have visited three out of four of these cities and can say without hesitation that they are all fabulous. But for some reason I am hoping for Chicago.

At stake is international prestige and exposure, billions of dollars in potential investment and economic spinoffs, and the honor of staging the world’s biggest sports extravaganza.

The decision may come down to two key issues: How much will President Barack Obama’s visit to Copenhagen to pitch Chicago’s case in person affect the outcome?  Is the IOC ready to take a bit of a gamble on Rio and send the Olympics to South America for the very first time?

IOC president Jacques Rogge expects the race for the 2016 Olympics to be decided by “a couple of votes” and says Chicago’s chances shouldn’t hinge on President Obama’s personal visit to push his home city’s bid.  Initially Obama announced he would not be able to attend the vote and that First lady Michelle Obama would go in his place. Now it is reported that he will be there.

“I see really no favorite,” Rogge said last week in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “I think it’s going to be a very close vote. I think the final vote will be decided by a couple of votes only.”

Tokyo

This amazing city of lights and energy was once considered a possible shoe-in for the games. The country has deep pockets to back the huge financial undertaking of hosting an Olympic Games. Tokyo boasts an amazing infrastructure of public transport and a plan to keep most game facilities within an eight kilometer radius.  But the city’s populous seem to think otherwise. Only 55% of the population supports the games returning to Tokyo (they also hosted in 1964). This is the lowest in that category in which Madrid has the highest percentage with 86% of its citizens supporting the games.

Madrid

This is Madrid’s second straight bid. The city finished third behind winner London and Paris in the 2005 vote for the 2012 Olympics. Madrid also was a candidate for the 1972 Games that went to Munich.  The capital city of Spain has about 70 percent of venues completed, a superb transportation system, full financial backing and the overwhelming support of its people – even the King of Spain. Some reports say that Madrid is not the favorite to be chosen for several reasons: partly because Barcelona held the games in 1992, just 20 years ago, while London is to host the 2012 Games and the IOC is unlikely to return to Europe for 2016.

Rio de Janeiro

In this race, Rio – besides its iconic beaches and stunning backdrop – has the strongest emotional pull of the four candidates.  The Olympics have never been held in South America and the time has come to try something new.

“For others it would be just another Olympics, but for Brazil it would be something to raise the self esteem of the people,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said this week. “No other city needs to host an Olympics. Brazil needs it. … Do only rich countries have the right to host the Olympics?”

Rio seemed to pick up the unofficial front-runner’s tag in June when the bid cities made presentations to IOC members in a specially arranged meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Rio officials made a splash by unveiling a big world map with dots showing where all the Olympics have been held – and a big empty space for South America.

Chicago

My city….and the adopted hometown of the United States President Barack Obama is expected to a front runner along with Rio. Chicago’s so called ‘front lawn,’ a long stretch of parks and lakefront would give the Games a glittering backdrop, like Rio, and plenty of room for playing venues that would not displace millions of people, as they did in Beijing.

Despite this week’s announcement that Obama will make a special an appearance in Copenhagen, Olympic officials say they are not worried that his presence may sway the vote.  Maybe another “O” will help. Oprah Winfrey is supposed to be there to support Chicago’s bid as well.  Chicago is bidding to bring the Summer Games back to the U.S. for the first time since Atlanta in 1996. The bid, which would bring the games back to the Olympics’ most lucrative market for sponsorships and television rights, is centered on a compact plan putting most athletes within 15 minutes of their venues along picturesque, ocean-like Lake Michigan.  Chicago overcame one of its biggest hurdles when the city council approved all financial guarantees for the games, clearing the way for Mayor Richard M. Daley to sign the host city contract if Chicago wins. That was a major step for a U.S. bid city, which – unlike rival candidates – can’t rely on federal government financial backing.

There is no way I could just be a tourist in the world for 2 ½ years.  I knew I had to mix it up to prevent boredom and burnout. I craved variety in my everyday life, so why would my life on the road be any different? Yes, of course, the constant change of scenery, culture, and people was variety in and of itself, but I knew I couldn’t just keep showing up in a new town each week and essentially continue to ‘walk around the world for a year.’  I needed to do, ya know, stuff. I needed to immerse myself somehow in society and feel like a part of it.  To start this process, I did different things like a Spanish Immersion program in Costa Rica (Spanish lessons in the morning and yes, surfing lessons in the afternoon) or a two-week, several-hundred mile bicycle trip down the length of Vietnam. But I needed even more structure. I needed…a job (cue shrieking horror music).

Now, just the sheer fact that I decided to blog about my trip and also write travel articles to be published elsewhere means that I was already working. I was trying to make time each week to sit and just write – a very hard thing to do when you are sitting in Rome or Cairo or Hong Kong and there are so many things around you vying for your attention.

Besides my new ‘day job’ as travel writer and photographer, I landed a few other actual jobs around the world.

1. Barrista and sandwich maker at a café in Melbourne
2. TV producer and reporter in Chile
3. Private business English tutor in Istanbul
4. Media proofreader in Istanbul
5. Actress in American Feature film in Istanbul
6. Research Assistant at the University of Cologne helping conduct an International survey on Airline/Airport Relationships
7. Writer and proofreader at publishing company in Berlin
8. Publicist for English Immersion company in Madrid
9. Extra in Hollywood
10. Pet Sitter around the world (Istanbul, LA, Chicago)

But many have asked me how did I find all these jobs? Did I look before I went on my trip?  The simple answer is no.  I simply arrived in a new place with the random idea that I could maybe find work there. In Australia, I spoke the language (sort of), so it seemed like a natural place to find a job other than teaching English. In Turkey, it’s all about connections and once I met one person…the ball just started rolling.  Besides that, I used persistence, word-of-mouth, and friends’ connections and a lot of smiles.

So, on this adventure, I worked all over and found it to be another great way to “go local.”  I lived in one place for an extended amount of time. I had a place to live. I took public transport (or a bicycle in Melbourne) to work. I had a schedule. I had a paycheck (well, cash). I truly felt like part of the fabric of society. And I actually gained some new skills, but most importantly I made real friends.

To hear more about my working around the world, listen to this podcast interview I did for Chris Christensen at the Amateur Traveler.

Amateur Traveler Episode 194 – Work and Travel Around the World